Learning from Penn State

Educators across Kentucky were listening as the NCAA announced sanctions against Penn State. The school must pay a $60-million fine, it’s banned from bowl play and every football win since 1998 was vacated. Eastern Kentucky University president Doug Whitlock says the NCAA sent a message to every athletic department in America.

“I think they’re trying to encourage people to have a culture in which the desire to cover up something to protect a program that they will be dissuaded from that because you know the first thought I would imagine that’s going to go through anybody’s mind if they’re even tempted to do something like is that “Well, how did that work out for Penn State?,” said Whitlock.

School leaders at Penn State failed to stop the sexual abuse of children by former defensive coach Jerry Sandusky.

“I think it was intended to (A) punish Penn State, but (B) I think it was intended to send a motivational message to the rest of us, that you don’t need to have an educational culture where athletics wags the dog,” said Whitlock.

President Doug Whitlock says school personnel must recognize right from wrong and then must report those wrongs to the administration. Even then, Whitlock says those personnel must ensure school officials respond correctly.